Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Civil War Civil War Documents At The National Archives 20220925

I am the director of the Cyber Institute here at gettysburg college. Im also a member of the history department. And its my pleasure this afternoon to introduce to you trevor plant. Trevor is the director of the Textual Records Division at the National Archives building in washington, dc. Ill translate that for you all. Trevor has a very important job in the field of history. Trevor is the friend of every historian. Trevor is a really likable guy. But if you didnt like him and youre a historian, hes still going to be really nice to him because archivist have all the power. Now i got a double whammy there. My wife is an archivist, so i got archivist at home that i have to mind as well as the field as well. The archivist are again are indispensable to what we do in the field of civil war history, in particular. Youd be hard pressed to find a book that doesnt have the imprint of trevor. He knows the collections exceeding only well, and thats whats so crucial. When you work with an archivist, you want someone who can do more than just pull the records off the dusty shelves. Youve got to have somebody who really understands that and knows something about what youre working on. Theyve got to know the field. And trevor does just that. So he has a very again, valuable, Important Role in the field of civil war history. Hes probably some if you want to see some of his work, you should go to prolog. Prolog is the national archive. Its the blog so you can see some of the stuff that hes done there. I remember years ago that trevor did a piece on civil war desertion. That was fantastic. Trevor also is i dont want to call him a tvs star, but he has been on a number of programs, including the very popular who do you think you are . Hes also been on the gettysburg excuse me, the Discovery Channel show called gettysburg. So today, trevor is going to share with us treasures from the National Archives. Welcome, trevor plant. Thank you. Thank you, pete. Im going to bring him to my bosss office when i ask for a raise. It is my pleasure to be here with you this afternoon. This is my first time presenting at cwi, so id like to thank dr. Carmichael for inviting me to speak today. Id like to thank ashley lusk for all the support leading up to this moment. So. The one disclaimer im going make before i jump into this is these are. So pete asked me to talk about treasurys with the National Archives, and thats all he asked me for. So there were no parameters involved. So this is documents. The National Archives in washington, dc, we have many other facilities with the National Archives. We have field locations across the country. We have a much larger building in college park, maryland, that also holds civil war era records, as well as the map collection and the photographs that both covered civil war. So i just wanted to give you that caveat. You know, kind of what what i worked with when i when i put this together for you all so, i wanted to start with. So were going to have the first three are non civil war most of the records of the National Archives start during the american revolution. So a great example of that, our oath of allegiance. So the Continental Congress passed an act they want to Army Officers to sign a oath of allegiance. So this is the written version of the verbal. So we still have oath today in this country. If you work for the federal government, like i do, if youre in the military, if youre a politician on the hill in dc, first day you sign a lot of paperwork, you get fingerprinted, raise your hand, and you do an oath to uphold the constitution. This is a much different oath than the one i took and that we take today. This predates the constitution constitution. The other thing that ill point out so let me let me jump into this and then ill ill explain a little bit about it. So. The timing of this couldnt be better. So this is preprinted forms that they sent to washington. And he wanted him they wanted him to have the officers sign these be witnessed by another officer, return the paperwork to army headquarters. So the timing of this is this is Washingtons Army coming out of the famous horrible winter at valley forge, where the army could barely afford to feed them, housed them, clothed them, provide them with arms and ammunition, but heres the paperwork. Please return the paperwork when youre done. So the bureaucracy has always been with us. So with that, ill jump into this. So the army numbered these. George washington is number one as George Washington commander, chief of the army, the United States of america do acknowledge the United States of america to be a free, independent, sovereign states, declare the people thereof. No, oh, no. Allegiance or obedience to george, the third king of great britain. So right off the bat, much different than our our oath today. Obviously. So youll notice theres a space in the middle where they were the word swear there was a few religious groups at the time there was a passage in matthew. They take very literally that says you cant swear under god. So thats where they could swear or affirm. Washington swore thatll do the utmost in his power to support maintain defend the United States against the said king george the third his heirs and successor in his or their betters. So the whole royal family is covered signed by washington and then it has in the lower left hand corner on the bottom sworn before me camp at valley forge, may 12, 1778, and the Major General stirling is the officer who witnessed washingtons oath. So whenever i talk about oath of allegiance during the revolutionary war, the one officer, at least till a couple of years ago that everyone asked about was benedict arnold. So we do have Benedict Arnolds oath of allegiance at the National Archives. Benedict arnold was overtaken by a more popular officer. So we do have Alexander Hamilton and he signed alex hamilton. We dont often think of him as alex, but thats him signing. And all three of those, like i said, were at valley forge in may. Of 1778. So one of the start out groups with talking about personnel related records before we jump into to some other specific documents, because those in itself are treasures. So these are some of our most popular civil war records used by historians, used by genealogist. And so i just give kind of a breakdown of Civil War Service. We have compiled Service Records, pension files, card of medical records for confederates, compiled Service Records, and then p. O. W. Records. So the thing thats interesting is when we think of military and personnel, the first thing that pops up is kind of a personnel file. And then in modern terms, a discharge paper, which is a d to 14 today, there was no consolidated personnel file during the civil war for union or confederate. It didnt exist. That concept didnt exist. The u. S. Army had been so small that they never a consolidated file on an individual soldier officer or enlisted. As you know, the army exploded in size during civil war. It became a huge problem after the war where individual veterans were putting in a pension request to the Pension Office. The Pension Office would get the request, send it over to the War Department to verify the Persons Service and to verify they didnt desert. If was a disability related pension, they had to prove in the paperwork the disability. Again, they were trying to do this without a consolidated file. It got to the point where there were about a year, a half or two years behind answering the question that was coming in to the Pension Office, the grand army of the republic got involved. It was a very powerful union. Veterans group after the civil war put a lot of pressure on congress. Congress, then put a lot of pressure on the War Department. And then in the 1880s, they created the system that im about to walk through with you all. So these were called compiled Service Records. What youre looking at are three envelope for three soldiers in, the second georgia calvary. So these are the envelopes that contain cards. And ill show you the examples of the cards on the next slide, the red numbers are numbers on the back of the cards that are within the envelope. Sometimes people see the envelope and they think that these relate to a totally different file. Thats not what this is. This tells you the number of of cards that should be within that within that file itself. So these are cards in the service record. Basically, any time a soldiers name showed up on a muster enroll, they must write roll a must roll busters were taken every two months and you either present or absent. So its kind of like when we were in elementary school, your present or absent if you were absent and they knew why, then there may be remarks and then they would show up on here as well. So these information that was consolidated based on other records, but it always tells what that original record was that the information is taken from so in this case, company must roll. Prisoner of prisoner of war, role, etc. And then same thing role of p. O. W. And then various information on the first two and then this soldier did an oath of allegiance. So thats what the third card is, is an oath allegiance. And then this is what that oath looked like. So going back that card on the right sites, this basically is how that is how that system worked. So then it then made it where the War Department just based on a name and a unit could go in and then everything was consolidated. It was in an envelope. And so they were creating personnel files after the fact. Well, after the fact, they started with medical records in the early 1880s. Then they did union. So going into late 1880s, 1890s, they focused on union. They then were working on confederates and so late 18, 18, 19, 1898 into the early 1900s, they were still compiling information on on confederates. So this is a Union Service record. Its the same exact, you know, system. It looks exactly the same. Its just this one relates to a member in a u. S. Colored heavy artillery unit. And then same thing it shows you where the information was taken from with various company muster enrollees or muzzle rolls. Then same thing where it has the two month. You can see the system follows through. Whereas like, you know, every two months theyre doing the the most roles. And then muster out. So this is when the soldiers was mustered out of federal service. So this is unusual. So id mentioned adt to 14 so any veterans who are you know 20th century or more recent they know what a d d d, d 214 is. Thats literally just the form for a discharge paper. So in world war two, when they discharged a lot of soldiers from world war two, they gave them copies of a discharge paper with my grandfather. He had like almost like a microfiche little version could then be read and expanded. The War Department kept actually dodd kept a copy of it. They gave several copies to to the soldiers. That was not the case in the civil war. The civil war, there was one discharge paper and they literally handed it to the soldier when they were discharged from the army. The reason this is at the National Archives is because either veteran or a next of kin submitted this later as part of a pension claim. So again, there will be one discharge paper from the war, but itll be for each unit. So if you have someone who served multiple units or in the civil war, theoretically they would have received a discharge paper from each one of those from those units when they were discharged. Then mentioned medical records. So this is the system that they started in the early 1880s. We call them, and medical records. So its the same thing where itll show you where the records were taken from as far as the union. So for itll be in the in the compiled records which are digitized and available on full three, youre not going to get as much information with confederates as you do for union. The confederates burned a lot of their paperwork. So when grants army was coming in to richmond a week before appomattox, the clerks were literally throwing reams of paper into fireplaces. They burned a lot of records in richmond, went on a train burn, more in danville, virginia, and then even more in the carolinas. They made their way into the carolinas. So a lot of the confederate records were destroyed. So a lot of what the National Archives has is either what captured. So the captured confederate records or what some cases copied from what the former confederates had. So thats what like i said, what the cadre medical looks like and it will always tell you the volume it was taken from. So if its a field, if its a general hospital, in many cases itll have a volume number and page number. So reason again, they came up with this system was before if a claim in and well you sandy willis was one of the soldier examples that had to in sandy willis was injured Saint Petersburg thats all that he submitted to the Pension Office so thats the only information that the War Department had to go on. So clerks had to go through all of the various hospitals that he could have theoretically in and then go through lists of names that are non alphabetical to try to find this one persons name. So thats why it was taking so long for them to respond to the Pension Office. It was a very labor intensive process. So the cardio medical. Definitely helped. So thats. So i failed to mention this is Joshua Chamberlain, so hopefully you picked up on that at the top. So this is Joshua Chamberlain soon after. So this is see, this is july into november where hes getting leave based on gettysburg and then later, 1864, based on his wounds that petersburg. So each one of these again is referencing something something different. And in this case related to Joshua Chamberlain chamberlain. So we have mentioned Court Martial records. So martial records are a great source. Theyre literally the transcript of the trial. So its charges, specifications, questions asked and answered and then the outcome of the case, this ones a little hard to believe. Someone got drunk in key west, florida. This is lieutenant john sheppard, who was drunk on duty. So this one this one is a little unusual. So the officers these are officers in his unit who sat on the on the Court Martial trial. They found him guilty. And he was to be cashiered from the army. So that was the outcome. The colonel then approves the outcome of that case. All of the officers that were involved in that case wrote a cover letter recommending that the ruling that they just did be looked at and remitted. And then they gave several reasons why he had, you know, good service. This was his first offense. He was a good guy. He was a good officer. And so their recommendation, even though they just said he should be cashiered there, really he is his sentence should remitted so that went up to the general. The general agreed with the recommendation. It then went to army jag and then in the upper right hand corner, president lincoln wrote sentence remitted abe lincoln and then the date. So thats in Abraham Lincolns hand. So it did go to the president , but again, it filtered the judge advocate general for the army before it before it it went there. This is another case. So this is the background of this is this is a soldier who was in a colorado unit. So this is private Michael Delaney was a company k first colorado cavalry. He deserted in the spring. They found him several months later, went to trial. The outcome of the case was he was to be shot to death. So same thing the officers sat on that trial, made recommendation that he not be shot to death because they found serving in another colorado unit. So he left for a couple of months, came back, didnt return to his previous unit. He joined another colorado unit, which happened during the civil war. Most, most often they went back to their theyre their unit. There were several soldiers who because they were volunteers felt that they volunteer to go to the army and they felt that they volunteer to go home when their wife, you know, needed help on the farm and then volunteered to go back, which, as you can imagine didnt go over well with Army Officers. So again, they made the recommendation that that that not actually happen. So what ive circled here this also went to president lincoln and he wrote let him fight of being shot a lincoln july 18th, 1863. So in this one, i mean the president s personality comes out because, you know, i work for the government, all they needed the president to do. Right. Approved or disapproved. Thats all they needed from lincoln. So you definitely get a little bit of his of his personality comes under we dont know what so what we know about him is we know that he survived the civil war based on his service record, not lot was happening in colorado during the civil war. He drops off after that he didnt put in for a pension and he doesnt show up on the census records. But we do know that he he survived his his Civil War Service. The next one. So this is an individual actually document that was found within a service record. This private William Christman, who was from the 67th pennsylvania volunteer infantry, he enlisted on march 25th, 1864. He was then sent to a camp in philadelphia and then soon after that, to a camp in washington, d. C. He is the first military. So the first soldier buried at arlington cemetery, he was in the army for all of about six weeks. So those of you that were a doctor down stock this morning, it was camp disease. He died of disease. So he died may 11th. He enlisted march 25th. He died may 11th. He was buried at arlington may 13th. He would have been. Be out august. No, hes down the hill. So the original burials were down the hill from the house. And then when montgomery migs went and visited, then thats when he got upset and said, no, bury them closer to the oh, sure. So he asked if he was buried closest to the lee. He was not. Hes down the hill there were officers that were staying in in the house as their headquarters. So they were buried, they started burying soldiers away from the house when montgomery migs to visit, he got very upset and hes like, no, i want this closer to the house. And the famous story where he says, i want them in. Mrs. Lees rose garden and then thats when you have them closer, closer to the. Youre welcome. And then related to this, this is a private letter from William Christman to his mother. Usually we do not have private letters like this. So this was submitted by his mom, part of a pension claim. So if you if youre if a soldier died and they werent married often caseys mothers would submit letters. Because if you could prove that your son was somehow financially supporting you while they were in the army and they passed away, then you were eligible for a pension. So we have a number of letters where it has no typical letter from a soldier and then at some point says enclosed is an x amount of of of money. And so this is from a camp in philadelphia. This is about a week after he a week and a half after he enlisted. Its a very typical soldier letter. You know. Hi, mom. Im doing well. Dont worry about me. Hes got some special instructions for his dad. And then shes like i said, shes submitted this to the government as part of a pension claim. So thats why we have it as it was in her pension pension file. So this one is is probably one of the more famous women who served as a man during the civil war. So this is sarah edmund seeley, whose alias she served is Franklin Thompson in company f of the second michigan infantry. It her several years to fight a pension and it literally took an act of congress for her to get a pension from the Pension Office. So she finally got a pension in. 1884, and it was at the at the rate of most soldiers at the time. So its 12 a month. So the thing that this is, again, just one page of several, she has a pretty, pretty thick pension file. So this is just one. I wanted the highlights. I want to pull up so i can read it. I so shes what year . So she was army potomac. Oh sorry. He was asking what battle she was in so i think her last battle was, second manassas. So she was in the army, the potomac. So she became ill and then deserted from the army. And so there was two things. The Pension Office getting a reformed their Pension Office was getting her for you know women didnt serve they were just off cuff saying women didnt serve in the military. Then when she was able to prove, you know, from affidavits that she served as Franklin Thompson, then they said, well, if you desert, then youre ineligible for a pension because thats what the law was. And so thats why it took it literally an act of congress to overturn it. So she says in the middle, especially because i took the utmost pains to conceal and she underlined that part to hide the facts in the case. Then towards the bottom, she said. But being a woman underlined woman, i felt compelled to suffer in and endure it the best i could in order escape detection of my sex. Then, she underlined, i would rather have been shot dead than to have been known to be a woman and sent away from the army under guard as a criminal and then underlying criminal. She wrote a book after the civil war. So what we do know is that she did serve as Franklin Thompson. We have evidence that she served as a soldier. She wrote a book after the civil war and gets into a lot of things that she allegedly did as a spy. And historians are kind of torn on on that part of her of her service. But she did she did receive a pension. And so this is from Joshua Chamberlains pension file. So this is just one document where. It goes through. Wounds received at petersburg. So in the lower right hand corner of. It has gunshot wound through both hips and bladder, which as many of you know, it was a very painful. Thing that he dealt with after after the after the battle and then after the war where they wound sometimes find some some unusual things in pensions. And so this is a pension from a soldier im sorry, this is a from a soldier to to his wife. Where hes going into detail about, you know, i hope youre well, dont worry me. Hes basically says hes not feeling too well. So as you read this again, its not that different from a wounded soldier thats in a hospital writing to his wife. And its not until you get to the the end of the second page where it says written by walt whitman, a friend. So this is literally walt whitman and many of you know the story. He frequently visited patients in dc hospitals during the civil. And so this was him at a soldiers bedside. And the soldier dictated this letter to walt whitman that he then wrote and then sent off to to nelson jambo. So adeline is the is the widow. Thats is his wife. So shes the one that put in for the for the pension. Sometimes that im going to say these are very so dont get too excited about the next sometimes you will find photographs so this is Samuel Patterson who was in a Veterans Home after the civil war. So this is not what he looked like during the civil war. This is well after the civil war. But they wore uniforms at the veterans. So thats thats the uniform that hes in that he as part of his as part of his pension. And then this is one of the nicer examples of something we have in a in a pension file. And its not unusual. I mean, it is rare, but there are times when, you know, researchers, the Research Room will come across photographs like these. So since were gettysburg, i have to show some lincoln lee. So this is a double. So this is march of 1861. This is as a number of u. S. Army officers are, its a combat mission of resigning to go south and then others that are then being promoted to replace people that are resigning. So this is a list promotions did not happen quickly in the army. So the u. S. Army, precivil war, you to wait in some cases for someone who was like a 70 year old officer to die before, everyone below them could move up a notch in the chain of command. So this one just happens to be president lincolns cover letter. So thats written by lincoln. Signed by lincoln. And then robert e lee is at top of that list. This for the first cav. And so hes hes being recommended to be promoted from hes a Lieutenant Colonel in the second cavalry to a colonel in the first cavalry, which actually takes place. And then as a colonel in the first cavalry, he then resigns his commission the next the next month. So this is not the famous letter that most historians quote where hes saying, im not going to i cant, you know, raise my sword against my state, etc. This is a very short resignation and letter. The secretary of war, literally a one liner is from is from arlington and then sign. Youre obedient now your obedient servant really, colonel, first you ask, have. So id mentioned that the confided records, the National Archives were captured and so they created an office within the War Department. So theres within the records division, they called it the rebel archives. So theres a telegram. From the officers, the officer, the grant put in charge of richmond. So this is about the 2nd of april, 1865, and theres a telegram from him to d. C. That said that hes trying to collect as much of the rebel archives as possible. So theyre calling it the rebel archives from day one. So thats something that the u. S. Army came up with and then they stamp a lot of that documentation. Some of it was almost like a chain of custody. So in a court case where you have a chain of custody that is going be used in a court case, this was during the time period where Jefferson Davis was, you know kind of under house arrest in fort monroe. And they were still trying to decide if hes going to go to or not. So thats where some of this was coming from, was gathering documentation that may be used against former confederate leadership, including the former confederate president president. So these are recently digitized. Its a horrible title. They were not paying enslaved people. So this is owners who are getting paid for the labor of their enslaved people. So this is for may and june, 1862, what theyre doing is for specific document. Theyre building obstructions in appomattox river. So like i said, on left has the column of who the owners are whos actually doing providing the labor and then the that would have been paid out to the to the owner so these were all recently digitized. Theyre on the National Archives catalog. The nice thing about them is theyre by name. So any name that appears on here. Either the owner, the enslaved individual can be looked up. So this is great for for genealogy. And then this is a document that goes with that with that form where it actually says, you know, use of my slaves and then the fort appomattox, 1862 and then the owners signature at the bottom. Now ive got a couple lincoln related documents. So this is lincoln nomination to the senate, nominating u. S. Grant to become Lieutenant General, which had not existed since George Washington. Thats all in lincolns. So thats all lincolns handwriting and his signature. The next one, this is actually a telegram so these look very similar. So this one is actually on letterhead so this is a letter, a letterhead he sent to the senate. This one is actually a telegram. So if you saw the movie lincoln that came out a couple of years ago from steven spielberg, they have a scene where lincoln is next to a telegraph operator that happened very frequently during civil war. The War Department telegraph office right next to the executive mansion now called the white house in lincoln, which is grab whatever piece of paper was nearby. Some of it had letterhead. Sometimes it didnt write down the and literally hand it directly to the telegraph operator. So thats the case with this, where hes written executive mansion at the top. And if this is a dinner invitation, this is mrs. L. So mrs. Lincoln basically requesting general meeting general grant come to dinner with with the lincolns if they have time. So thats february. What are the whats the second, third and fourth . Whatever whatever. Right. So thats going to be tell it. Thats all telegraph operator related. So hes asking about. Think about this. Yeah. Yeah. So thats the time. Thats the thats the time that the telegram was sent. Who actually sent it. So that would have been added. That parts not so everything about that is, is Abraham Lincoln. And. Then this one is to mrs. Lincoln is on vacation with her son in new york city city. And this one is that the draft will go to you. So this is literally the checks in the mail tell tad the goats and father are are very well especially the goats and a lincoln. So again this is all in president s handwriting and then everything you see below that is going to be telegraph related. The date, the times and the telegraph operator. And then this is august 17th, 1864. So the background to this one is this as soon after the Confederate Army almost made way deep inside the nations capital, d. C. , there was politicians were very concerned that grant had taken too many troops with him in the overland campaign, and hed kind of stripped too much from the fortifications of washington, around washington to go with him down towards richmond with his various overland battles between him and robert ely. So they were putting pressure on grant to return parts, if not most of the army of the potomac, to better protect the capital so that it wouldnt happen again and the confederates wouldnt be able to further into further into the capital. Like i mentioned. So this one is in the upper left hand corner. It has cipher in quotes. So this would have been an indication to the telegraph operator to use a codebook. So would have been words where. A word represents something else. A boat could represent mead or it could represent a location. So it could represent a place or a person. And the telegraph operators were used the same, the same codebook on ends. So literally lincoln would hand that to the telegraph operator. They pull down the codebook, look, the codes do the dots and, dashes the morse code. It would be at the other end of this at this juncture, this would city point virginia, which is where grant was outside of the siege of petersburg. And then they would do the opposite down. They pull the codebook, decipher it, write it out, and then thats what would be handwritten and then delivered to to general grant. So the below is not really some. Give me a second. So this one is Lieutenant General grant, city point, virginia. Ive senior dispatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are. Neither am i willing. Hold on with a bulldog grip and chew and choke as much as possible. So theres no reading between the lines in this. He wants grant to stay. He is and take care of robert ely. So the two stamps, theres two circular stamps. Theres one at the bottom and theres one at the top, the one at the bottom. And read the one at the tops and blue. They both relate to the o. R. So the war, the war of the rebellion, the official records of union, confederate armies, its a very popular publication that that most, if not all, historian that are doing books on campaigns, etc. Use. So its a collection of correspondence reports, action reports, telegrams for, both union and confederate. Theres one set that covers army. Theres another set that covers navy. So for this was part of that project after the war. So one of them has copied and then the other one has printed. So thats showing that this telegram can be found in the o. R. Basically, youre. So the next one, if you saw the movie glory, it was based on. 54th massachusetts, which was a african africanamerican unit during the civil. So blacks, black soldiers, enlisted men, white officers. This is from their records. This is a list of names of the enlisted men from. The 54th massachusetts missing after the on fort wagner, july 18th, 1863. Its an order by and then its in descending order by and theres 106 names on this on this list. So they were the lead attack unit against battery. Battery wagner. So they did a quick roll call. And this is who didnt make it back. So this one, you cant it out here, but you will as i go through. So this is thats a part of it. This is what the whole thing looks like. So on this one, you can the fold lines where this was folded down to envelope size. So this is a larger map that was unfolded down to fit inside an envelope. This is the map that accompany lees after action report gettysburg so is not a map that we would have had while he was at gettysburg. This would have been done after the fact and then like i said, this is the one that went to the confederates of war. So this is july 2nd, 1863. So it has the the unit positions as the second day, which of show you in a second this one it really doesnt do justice. The original the original is almost like artwork. I mean this is a beautiful map but some of the cool things about it is these are Property Owners outside town. Theres not a lot of road signs at the time. So if going to get directions from a local, theyre going to say, you know go to the carmichael farm and take a left. So thats thats a lot of whats on here on the outskirts of town is going to be the names of of the residents. And then this is just me blowing up different parts of the map. So this is cemetery hill, culps hill at the top. And then here you can really make out the the unit positions. And then where they were attacking across on the on the second day and down here at the bottom, big round top, Little Round Top devils down same thing. And then showing where the the union corps whereas listed fifth corps third corps. And then this is the lower right showing that it was done by topographical engineers in the army of northern virginia. Most likely west point trained and then who that officer was and then who who actually copied. So this would have been done from several different topographical engineers would have done a piece of this. And then this officer put it all together. But like i said, its a its amazing the detail thats involved in this. So this one is well keep gettysburg. So this is gettysburg related. This is a few days after the battle. This is lincoln writing to general halleck. So this is all in lincolns hand. It we have certain information that vicksburg surrendered to general on the 4th of july. Now, if general meade can complete his work so gloriously prosecute to thus far by the literal or substantial destruction of army the rebellion be over yours truly lincoln. So you can just sense the president s optimism in this as many of you know things were not going well the first couple of years on the Eastern Theater for the union for the union army. And now lincoln is looking at theres a victory in pennsylvania. A couple of days later, he finds out theres a victory in vicksburg. So we have two huge victories. And now hes imagining meade can take care of lee and then its over the whole things over going to come after this is going to be a week of telegrams from halleck kind of goading need to do more to be more aggressive to go after robert e lee it comes to a head on literally a week later on the 14th it gets to the point where he sends the town out sends a telegram to me that basically that the president is disappointed in his performance. Meade then telegrams back and asked to be relieved from command of the army of the potomac. Lincoln sees this. He then writes a letter that that starts with i dont want to relieve you, command. Let me explain you in great detail why im so disappointed you and then writes a scathing letter to meade that basically is you werent aggressive enough and im paraphrasing but literally he puts it all on meade and says, you didnt do what i asked you to do. The is going to go on because of you was the letter that he wrote he then folds it up puts it in envelope and on the envelope he writes to general meade not signed, not sorry, not sent nor signed meade saw that letter. Meade never knew about that letter. It pains to say this because i love that letter as at the library of congress. It pains greatly so no. So this this would have gone with lincolns papers upon his death. They went to his son, robert lincoln. Robert lincoln was then the one that, you know, gave them to the library of congress. And then it had a ticker that they couldnt be released for many years because he wanted them released beyond a time period where anyone who was alive that his father may have mentioned was beyond their lifetime because of things like this, where lincoln would kind of vent and get it out of his system but not actually send it, which i wish we had these in the day of email because ive sent a few emails that i wish i could take back, but but it tells you something about the president s leadership style where he he, you know, he was very upset, got it out of his system a little bit. And then actually never sent it to general meade. We also have records related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and investigation that was part of that. So the next two documents, notes on this document. So this was found a trunk in room 28 of the national hotel. So this is the night of the assassination. Thats how quickly the army was moving on this. So this a secret cipher that booth had where if you do, you know, a you know, be on the left side and then be at the top, then at equals, another letter. So you can write encrypted, coded, you know, letters between or messages between two different people. Youd both have to have the same cipher on both ends to to decipher it. The next one. And these were exhibits that were used in the trial. So this is a calling card. So literally its the size of a Business Card has dont wish to disturb you. Are you at home . Jay wilkes booth. This was left for the Vice President , andrew johnson, the kirkwood house, which is where he was staying. And again, this was earlier. So this was the assassination. This was earlier in day. So as many of you know, the master was to take out the leadership of the federal government. So they were going to go after the president , the Vice President , the secretary of state, general grant. If mrs. Grant actually went to fords like the paper announced that was their plan. So this, like i said, was used as an exhibit in the in the trial. So next we have the emancipation proclamation. So its actually five pages we display the National Archives, displays it a few times a year because its so faded with the light damage thats happened on it previously that certain times of year. So right now its about go on display for a weekend. Thats coming up for the three day weekend around juneteenth. So the thing that makes it hard to display is that two of the pages are double sided. So you can never see, you can never display on an exhibit the five original pages. So always two or three originals and then itll show whats a facsimile. And then they kind of alternate which one is on display, the original side or the facsimile. But itll always say if its a facsimile or not, depending on the side that youre looking at. Next is the 13th amendment. So theres two things that are unusual about this document. And let me say this is probably like this big. So its larger than legal size. So this is a resolution that passed by congress. So basically the Congress Passes the resolution. It then goes to the states and. Then either three quarters of the states ratify it or they dont. If it doesnt happen, it doesnt become an amendment. If it does, then it becomes an amendment to the constitution. The plays no role whatsoever in that process. So towards the bottom, you can see where it has approved. April 1st, 1865, Abraham Lincoln. That is meaningless. It doesnt matter if he approved or disapproved it still has to go to the states to be ratified or not so. Thats one thing that makes this unusual. The second thing that makes this unusual is the body of the text. Can you see where this is . Like three or four different people wrote this. Its different handwriting. So its almost like a line and a half ish is someone else this handwriting . Yeah. This is very unusual. So we have a collection of public laws private laws, resolutions from congress, executive orders. Theyre all written by the same clerk. So that would have been the job know that they were given. No matter how the public law is, its 15 pages that one clerk was given that assignment. And its always in that one clerks handwriting. So this is very unusual to have something especially this short that is written several different people. Theres no evidence to support this. So this is speculation that they literally want to have a hand in history because they realize what a big moment this was. And different clerks jumped in and wrote a piece, a piece of it. So like i said, its highly unusual then because of the holiday coming up, juneteenth. So this is general order number three. So this is Major General gordon granger. So as soon as he came in to texas, when he took over district of texas, one of the first things he did was issue this general order. And this was announcing that all the enslaved people in texas are now. And so this was june 19, 18, 1865, and then became known and celebrated as juneteenth, where they combined june in 19 became juneteenth. So this is actually spliced together as far as the scan is together. The top one shows up at the bottom page of a volume and. Then this is the top of the next page. So to make it go together, i put it together, you. We also have records related to appomattox. So in this case, this is the articles agreement done at appomattox on april 10th. So the left hand signatures are the Union Officers that were handling and then on the right hand side where the confederate officers that were. Handley so this the logistics of how these surrender itself would take place at appomattox. Then the next three, i just happen really like so thats what i thought honor. So this one is, its a recurring poster. Most people see recruiting posters from world war one or world war two. Theres a recruiting poster, the civil war men wanted for the navy, all able bodied men not in employment of the army, will enrolled at when we pull this up on their trying to read this on some of the smaller typologies all able body men not in the employment of the army will enlisted in the navy upon application at naval rendezvous on craven street, next door to the printing office. Hk davenport what makes this funny is that this is a union navy officer recruiting for the union navy in north carolina. So its not even if youre in the army, if youre not in the Confederate Army, well take you in the union. Navy is basically what this poster is telling you. So this one, there is a treaty between the United States and russia that transferred alaska, russia to the United States. This is the canceled check that goes with that treaty. So literally, we cut a check, 7. 2 million to russia. And this is that check dated august 1st, 1868. So if anyone tells you the devil doesnt exist, we have proof that he does. This is a letter from the devil. So this is baltimore in august. Im sorry. Yeah, august 10th, 1865, to his Jefferson Davis old hoss. I heard you was in trouble. Can i render you any assistance . If so, let me know. And its signed yours till i get you the devil. And then at the bottom is the envelope that it came in had private to his excellency expresident davis, wherever the devil he and has hands off at the bottom. So this is so davis was captured in may of 1865. He then sent to fortress monroe, where he spent the next two years under house arrest. And so again, this is someone, you know in baltimore that that wrote him a letter in. And in august of that year. And then the last thing i have is the end. So this is a photograph that was found in a in a pension. So the soldier on the left is john bates. The soldier on the right, they look like theyre like 14 or 15 years old. If james rooney, jr, they were both in the fourth massachusetts cavalry and then they both transferred to the u. S. Navy within a week of each other. So i think someone went to their unit and wanted to know if anyone had any sea experience. And so they both transferred to the navy. The soldier, the right holding the bottle, his widow submitted this as proof of service because they kept saying that he didnt serve. And shes heres a picture of him. And so this is in her her pension file. So thats what i had for you. So any questions have be have been answering. This display. Like if we go to how much of this could we see on display at any given time . Its going to so we rotate our exhibits. So like i said, the emancipation proclamation goes up usually at least once a year some of the other things i showed digitized and on our catalog. So you can see a digital copy of it on the National Archives catalog and then things such as the the compiled Service Records and some of the things from the pension i showed those arent those havent been on display. Thats just things i picked out to share with you today. Yes, sir. Thank you. My final. I dont think there are. Help is on the way that. Okay, great, great presentation. Im a navy veteran and my family history. There are similarly records you know, like set up for the navy as they did the for the army. No. What youre going to find is there are mustard rolls. So the three things that you want to look at are pension file, mustard roll and, navy deck logs. Those are going to be the three big ones with navy. I would start with the pension because if theres a pension application in either him or next of kin, itll usually list the ships. And then with the ship or navy station information, you can then go and see the master rolls and then see the deck logs and will track the master. All will track where was the deck logs . Are daily and theyll track what was going on with the ship. It be unusual to list an individual and last year ancestor did something great or did something very wrong but it will show you kind of you can get a feel for what he actually did and what he experienced. Muster rolls, deck rolls. And what was the last pension . Start with the pension. Okay. One last question. The idea of the reading rooms open now or the last time i. Yes, sir. Thank you. The so i will say go to the facility page of the facility that you want to visit and itll have a information on how to get an appointment because its by appointment only right now. But they are open. Yes, sir. This is sign to closer. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello there. You there again . So during the surrender meeting at the mcclane house between lee and grant, lee signed a letter of acceptance that he gives to grant. I supposedly thats sent with grants papers to the War Department, but somehow never makes it to the National Archives. So i dont know, maybe you dont have specific information, maybe on that specific document. But how were . Documents transferred from the War Department to the National Archives. Was it common for records to be lost if you just speak on that for a little bit . Thats a great question. So there was no National Archives until the mid 1930s and so what the archives has is what was maintained by the various federal agencies that then turned over that to the National Archives. So in some, like dr. Downes this morning, spoke about Freedmens Bureau records, great example. Theres some field offices where we have a number of documents and documentation related to that field office and others. There are none. And we dont know why. You know, i mean, so for whatever reason, either they werent sent to the War Department or something happened at the War Department before, received them and then presently we only keep federal government, only keep 3 of the records that they create. But going back anything prior. So like i mentioned, the lincoln papers, you know, president ial papers to the National Archives, the president or his family could do whatever he wanted with with those papers. And a lot of it is official government documentation mixed in with those personal letters, etc. So yeah, its, i mean, its like the confederate, its like we have what we have. I mean, i wish i could give a better answer than that, but i mean, thats yeah, its yeah. I mean, we started getting specific to the War Department. We started getting War Department records, the 1930s, because the army was keen to because they were moving and they knew where they were creating the pentagon. So it coincided with that. And so we received a lot of War Department 18th, 19th century. So the oath of allegiance a great example those i checked the paperwork, the the paperwork for that and those were handcarried to the National Archives from the War Department prior to the pentagon opening. So those were in shape. And you can tell the army took very good care of those those. Yes. Who compiled the Service Records. And how long did it take . Great question. So, fred aynesworth was a doctor in the u. S. Army, so he was the one that was charged with the original, the medical part that i mentioned with the card. What became the card of medical records . He came up with that system. Lucky for us, he was type a very able officer. He had a lot of checks. His his his staff hated him because he really cracked down on, you know, how long you can take launch when you could show up to work, when you could leave and really, you know, try to get the most out of them. And hes the one that came up with this system, putting the numbers on the back, tracking where like what was done in a day. And then someone would come after of that clerk and check their work to double check what they what they put down was was accurate as could be. So the carter medical like i said, started probably started and finished in the 1880s, compiled Service Records for union started probably mid 1880s. The i didnt mention is that they went back and they did revolutionary war war of 1812 the early indian wars the mexican war all of those have compiled Service Records as they were doing these in the late 1890s, spanish american war broke out. They did them for the spanishamerican war. They did them for the philippine war. In 1912, the army kind of wised up and they created what we now know as a personnel file, where you have one file that, your whole military however long youre in the military, you have that one file that kind of tracks with you for enlistment they didnt do it for officers until its the opposite of what you think it would be but they did enlisted november first. Its an exact date. So november first, 1912, is when they started the personnel files for enlisted in the 1917 for the officers. Thank you. Thank you. Its a great question. Im a docent at the dodge house in council bluffs, and we tell a story about general dodge as. Well. Actually, there was this man named samuel davis. And he was a confederate soldier and they caught him in a union coat and they found maps and, letters from dodges and his shoe. And they so they had a tribunal and convicted him and, ended up hanging. Long story short. I was wondering with those records be available to me, could i look those up . So do have so theyre military commissions so anytime the military tried a civilian it was a military commission. We do have files for military commissions, whether we have that one or not. I cant speak to that based on the the answer i provided to the other gentleman. But we do have we do have civil era military commissions, the confederacy called in nathan hale of the confederacy. So yeah. Well, yeah, you can definitely either come in or you can write to us and we can check on that for you. Thats right. You about military pension, as i understand it, in todays military, you have to serve a fairly substantial amount of time in order to get a pension. Im assuming in this day and age that, a lot of these Union Soldiers would serve three or four years and be eligible some type of pension. The first question, first of all, is that correct so you have to fill put in ten years. Im going to have im at a very long winded answer because originally, though, during the war it wasnt year related was for disability. So as strictly disability related so it was the veteran or i mentioned with the mother next of kin during the war as the 19th century went on, there were several more pension laws that were passed. And as you got further into the 19th century, they became more and more lenient where it got to the point where if you served 30 days in a federalized unit during the civil war, you were eligible for a pension. So started out with disability and then eventually got to a Service Related pension, like youre saying, with with kind of related to that, theres a lot of stories about in the 1920s and thirties, a 70 or 80 year old veteran would marry a 14 year old girl. And she would you know, he would obviously die fairly quickly and she would collect it for the next 40 years. It was that ever protested. Is is is an abuse or they know that that what i mean that happened i started so i started the archives 30 years ago so i started in the early nineties and every year i was reading an article about the last confederate widow died and you know in kentucky or it was like every year there was like one and there actually was one. I want to say two years ago, who was the last next of kin related Civil War Service that was receiving a pension. She passed away, i want to say two years ago. I want to say, first of all, that you did the best job ive ever seen of making paperwork. Interesting and enjoyable. Thank you. And i had two questions. One is something own family. Our father was in world war two. He was overseas for three years. And our understanding is that his records were in st louis and there was a big fire that destroyed it. A lot of records. Yeah. So in 1973, there was fire. It was a six storey building. It didnt have Sprinkler System in the building. The final report is, i think it was someone in the cleaning crew was smoking in the stairwell and it started a fire that burned for several days. It burned a a fair amount of Army Personnel files. The navy and marine corps, not so much so like for my for my family. I have one of my grandfathers was in the army in europe. My grandfather was in the navy in the pacific. I have Service Records for but not the other because they burned in the fire. So what they did do is when people were putting in for claims they would try to find other records like medical records, va records to to fill in for that or other army records to kind of fill on the service. If my grandson interested in genealogy, is there some way he could research that, that or maybe that information is just gone or im sure he would be interested in doing it. So if hes doing if hes doing world war two, army are unit records or in college park, maryland. And so he can either go there in person or write to them. And thats where the records are in maryland, college park, maryland. So its right next to university of maryland, college park. Okay. So its the National Archives in college. And one other question that a lot of times when you when you are you read a military book, it says the author has found new sources and so forth. Im just curious, how many new sources are there for the civil war . I mean, so many things that have been written how but books come out . Well, where do they get. So im just its its a its a combination and and dr. Carmichael correct me if im wrong its a combination. Sometimes someone will you know theyll by ill use pennsylvania as an example theyll buy a house in pennsylvania and then theyll go in the attic and they find a chest in the attic that has ton of personal letters and diaries from the civil war that into details that historians havent covered in various books. And then those become the new sources that theyre using. Actually, dr. Carmichaels books are example where he focused on you trying to tell stories that werent commonly told of soldiers in the civil using. So there was a shift years ago with civil civil war historians. It was all focused on the generals and the after action reports. And then there was a there was a sea change where they started bringing in personal letters and personal diaries. So you could read. What was it like to be a private on culps hill as opposed to what the general said that that private did on coleshill . Thank you very much. But as far as the records, the pensions, i think are a good because there were many people that served in the civil war. There are a lot of pension files and in some cases some of these may not have been looked at for 100 years because it takes someone know, calling up that individual file, go through like page by page. So speaking of finding things, so we had a docent was helping us prep a pension file that was going to be scanned and they found a moleskin like literally a more in the pension that the widow of this private submitted to the government to prove that her her husband served in the army because he sent this to his wife during the civil war that he found in tent when he was in the army of the potomac. And so shes like, he was in the army. Heres the mole. It proves it. And so we literally have a scan of that moleskin that was, you know, discovered if you probably like, ten years ago. So i have a question about the preservation of records, the original documents themselves in the archives began in 1930. And what did they know about how to preserve paper then and how has it changed to now . We know a lot more about lighting and things like that so talk, if you would, a little bit about preservation of the actual pieces of paper. So and can i ask one other thing real quick . The articles of agreement from appomattox. Do you know, was that written by eli parker . So the agreement that the gentleman for asked about that was so the ones that went the copy that we had in the copy that grant took away them, that was those were written by eli parker. Yes. So getting back to your first question, so. Documents and preservation, its all keyed to like the time period. So one of the reasons that the emancipation proclamation is so faded and one of the reasons that the declaration so if you go to the rotunda at the National Archives in d. C. The declaration of independence is very faded. And thats because it was in the state department at the end of the 19th century almost in their break room, where it was by a window, sun damage, smoke damage. So as almost love too much and so then various preservation things depending on the time theyre doing the best they can with the science at that time. So the alaska check that i showed that was laminated, that was laminated probably in the 1950s because that was a big preservation technique in the 1950s. And so it almost looked like a a faded menu that you would get at a diner. And so that was actually removed. That that was removed our lab removed that lamination probably five or six years ago. And it was literally from like a tv set in like 1990 to like an hd version of a tv set today where it was just like the colors popped. I mean, its a totally different document once you remove that that lamination. So i mean, thats a great question because again, it it depends on on the time period, like even what techniques theyre using to to preserve. And we have i am not a scientist, thank god. We have people who are scientists that work with, you know, the chemicals and Everything Else and doing preservation work for. The agency. All right. Thank you. Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to the National World War One Museum and memorial located here in kansas city, missouri. My name is james taub and the Public Program specialist here for the museum. A memorial is my great pleasure to welcome you here tonight for women in warfare with Lieutenant Colonel nikki dean. Now to introduce our speaker tonight, i will also say that the view she will be stating are not reflective of the United States army, the department of defense, the and general Staff College or the